Questionable lineup quiet in 5-0 loss

You could just take a peek at the Royals lineup for this one and make a safe prediction on how this one went. It didn’t matter that they were facing an average-ish pitcher in Mike Montgomery because when Drew Butera is your first baseman and Alcides Escobar is your third baseman, not many ballgames are going to be won. Add in the fact they were facing one of the better offenses in baseball and... yeah...

The predictability of this contest came to fruition early when the Cubs put up two runs on Brad Keller with two outs in the first inning via a David Bote triple. The Royals would put on some base runners in the bottom half of the inning, but Montgomery would work around it.

After some slow frames for both sides, Ben Zobrist would put the third Cubs run on the board in the fifth on a sac fly. Not shortly after that, Bote would drive in his third run of the game, pushing the Cubs lead to four.

Keller would strand some base runners to put together a respectable performance of six innings, four runs. It didn’t matter though, because the Royals couldn’t get anything at all going on offense, with Montgomery working six scoreless.

After a Brian Flynn scoreless frame in the seventh, Brandon Maurer allowed the Cubs fifth run in the eighth, walking two, allowing a single, and an Ian Happ sac fly. Wily Peralta would follow on pitching with a 1-2-3 inning of his own.

Carl Edwards Jr., Jesse Chavez, and Justin Wilson would put together three scoreless frames for the Cubs bullpen, only allowing a pair of runners between the two of them.

Cubs will go for the sweep tomorrow. Heath Fillmyer and Jose Quintana will toe off. Maybe the Royals will field a better lineup than the one they’ve sent out the past two games.